


i didn't come for a fight (but i will fight to the end)

by kadaransmuggler



Series: just two kids, stupid and fearless [1]
Category: Mass Effect, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Angst, F/F, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm not sure what this is, Post-Reaper War, So much angst, alina starkov is commander shepard, and they capture alina and mal, because the catalyst isn't really her, benezia's death still has me fucked up, but liara and shepard is my otp, but like, but that does not diminish my love for him, except it's shepard and liara, good angst?, i can write a sequel if someone wants it, i don't ship mal and alina that much, i hope u enjoy, i will see you again with the dawn, if you want a fuckin sequel or a prequel or w/e tell me, it says that, kai leng is ivan, liara t'soni is mal, on the other hand i hate the illusive man so that's why he's a dick, shepard came back after control ending, sort of, spoilers: shepard's not really dead, takes place during siege and storm, the darkling is an asshole, the darkling is the illusive man, this is kinda weird, when the darkling has hired sturmhond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5323733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadaransmuggler/pseuds/kadaransmuggler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Darkling finally has Alina Shepard and her pet tracker in his clutches, but Shepard isn't willing to break, and neither is she willing to let her bondmate suffer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i didn't come for a fight (but i will fight to the end)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scrumptiouslynervouscollector17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrumptiouslynervouscollector17/gifts).



The Darkling’s lips curled up into a inherently predatory smirk. The cold sea air sprayed against Shepard’s face as she leaned against the railing, her handcuffed hands hanging over the cold metal bars, very pointedly not looking at him. “You love your bondmate, don’t you, Commander?” he asked, his voice sickly sweet. She didn’t answer aside from a low growl in her throat. “Of course you do,” he continued, “you look at her like she’s the Sankta Athame herself.” She turned slowly, her eyes narrowed as she looked at him properly for the first time since they’d been caught. “You will never have me, Darkling, no matter what veiled threats you make. Cerberus might have rebuilt me, but Cerberus does not have my loyalty,” she said, her voice low and angry. “I intend to win it,” he said, leaning closer. She tried to back away, but he had her pinned between him and the railing. She hooked her hands on the opposite side of the railing, pressing as tightly against it as she could. “You won’t break me,” she said, and considered it a victory when her voice did not shake. 

 

“Ivan, bring in the asari tracker,” the Darkling order, his head tilted slightly to the side as his eyes slid over to Corporalki Heartrender. Shepard’s breath caught in her throat, and by the Darkling’s answering smirk, he knew he had her. A few minutes later, Liara was dragged onto the deck, and thrown carelessly near the Darkling’s feet. Her hands were bound behind her back, and she struggled to rise. The Darkling shoved himself off of Shepard and stalked over to Liara. A knife was in his hand, and Shepard wasn’t entirely sure where it had come from, only that he was now holding the blade against the pale blue of Liara’s cheek. A snarl tore it’s way out of Shepard’s throat, and the Darkling let out a long, low chuckle. “You are so easy to best, Shepard,” he said, his voice dangerously soft, “I prick her, and you bleed.” 

 

Shepard’s protests died on her tongue, and for a moment she wasn’t on the deck of a stolen ship. Instead, she was in a dark and rotting building that might have been a storage warehouse, once. Her hands weren’t bound, and she held a gun out in front of her. _Sick moans surrounded her from cages packed full along what was left of the walls. The guards outside were dead, and she’d obtained the keys from their corpses, and as she went, she unlocked the cages. “I’ll get you out of here,” she promised, already sending her location through a transmitter. But then, at the end of the ruined building, was a cage with only one occupied. It was marked as special cargo, and it contained one of the most beautiful asari Alina Shepard had ever seen, although she was still broken and starving. She broke into a run the last few feet as the asari’s eyelids began to flutter open. She knelt, the key sliding into the lock effortlessly. There was something compelling about this woman, something familiar, and she finally came into awareness with a moan as Shepard crouched down on the filth of the cage floor in front of her. “Alina? Is it you?” the asari asked, and Shepard nearly choked on her own spit. “How do you know me?” she asked, letting warm light fill her palms. The asari leant towards the warmth, basking in it. “Do you remember Keramzin?” the asari asked weakly, as Shepard struggled to bring a bottle of water to her lips. “I try not to. Why?” she asked. The woman took a few gulps of water from the bottle before pushing it away; some of it dribbled down her chin. “I was there. With you. We grew up together. You ran with the Tenth Street Reds. I joined a few months before you left,” the asari answered, and Shepard stilled. “Liara T’Soni?” she asked, incredulously. Liara nodded, and Shepard gathered her up in her arms. “I’m going to keep you safe. No one’s ever going to hurt you like this again,” she promised, venom in her tone, pressing a kiss to her dirty forehead. “Shepard….could you tell me where we are?” she asked. “Ten miles from Therum. I got a call saying there was suspicious activity in an old warehouse nearby. It…I found you,” she managed, before a beep interrupted her. “Yeah, there are civilians here. Slavers, I think. They’re ready for pick up. I transmitted my location to a hospital in Therum. There should be people out soon to help them. I’ll be long gone before then,” Shepard said, speaking into her earpiece before scooping Liara up._

 

Shepard felt utterly hopeless as Liara’s blue eyes pleaded with her. Help me, they seemed to say, and Shepard wanted to beat the Darkling to death with his own spine. “Before I find the sea whip, you will swear your loyalty to me. Every time you refuse, your bondmate will suffer,” the Darkling said, the knife’s edge dancing alongside Liara’s cheekbone, blood beading up in it’s tracks. “Wait!” Shepard called out, the force of it surprising even her. The Darkling raised an eyebrow at her. “If…If I were to die, before I swore my loyalty to you, or if I did swear myself to you, would you leave her alone?” she asks, her voice thick. “I am not needlessly cruel, Alina,” he said, a soft smile gracing her face. She didn’t know whether or not to believe him, but Shepard nodded, and the metal of her handcuffs clanged against the ship’s railing. An idea began to form in the back of her mind. “Liara, you remember how I promised you nothing would ever hurt you again, when I found you in that cage in Therum?” she asked, a frantic desperation in her tone that hadn’t been there a moment before. “Yes, Shepard, but please don’t think you have to keep that promise,” Liara said, her shoulders squared. Shepard bit back a sob. “Remember how I haven’t broken that promise, and how I promised I’d always come back to you?” she asked, her eyes searching Liara’s. “Yes, Shepard, I remember. And…I believe you,” Liara answered, her head dipping down as confusion colored her tone. She nodded to herself, and then turned her gaze onto the Darkling and gave him a smile that was all teeth before meeting Liara’s gaze once more. 

 

She remembered another time, when her bondmate had walked across all of Ravka to find her again. _“You aren’t angry with me?” she asked, the big blue eyes scared and full of tears. “No, Liara. It was better that Cerberus and the Darkling get me than the Collectors,” Alina answered gently, one hand reaching up to stroke the asari’s cheek. She moved in to kiss Liara, but when she backed up, Shepard froze. “I…I can’t do this, Shepard. You died on me once, and I…I couldn’t do that again. I can’t…I can’t do this…do us, unless I know you’ll always come back to me,” Liara said, her voice breaking. Shepard’s heart cracked as she pulled Liara into a tight hug. “I swear to you, no matter what happens, no matter what comes between us, I will always find you again. I love you, Blue, and I’ll be here when you’re ready,” she promised, pressing her lips against the freckled skin of Liara’s forehead before releasing her, a soft, sad smile on her face._

 

Shepard took a deep breath, steeling herself. She’d died twice before, but never had she drowned before. _She remembered a dying matriarch who told Liara that she’d see her again with the dawn. Liara crumpled beside her mother’s body, heaving sobs shaking her from the core. Shepard slid to her knees beside Liara, one hand rubbing soothing circles on the small of her back. Liara curled towards Shepard, burying her face in her neck. “I’m so sorry, Liara. If I had known…” she began, but trailed off. What would she have done? What couldshe have done? There wasn’t anything she could have done to save Matriarch Benezia, no matter how desperately her heart ached for the young asari crying into her chest. “I hadn’t spoken to my mother in years. That’s why I was at Kermazin, that’s why I joined the Reds. But I…I always thought I’d have a chance to reconcile with her,” Liara mumbled, taking several breaths to steady herself. She pulled back to look at Shepard, her eyes red and puffy. “I’m here for you, Blue. Remember that,” she whispered, pulling her into a hug. Liara let her body melt against Shepard’s, and she was quiet in her grief._

 

“I love you, Liara,” Alina says, her gaze meeting her wife’s. “I love you, too, Alina. And this won’t make me think any less of you,” Liara murmured, her hands twitching against the biotic-supressing metal that bound her. “I’m going to hold you to that. I’ll see you again with the dawn, Blue,” Shepard said, giving her a watery smile. Her heart ached, but maybe, with all the enhancements the Darkling had given her, maybe she could pull this off. She took a final, deep breath, and used the leverage of her bound hands to flip herself over the side of the railing. Liara’s scream followed her until the glacial water closed over her head. 

 

* * *

The Darkling turned to Liara, the knife falling to the deck from his slackened fingers. “What did that mean?” he asked, and Liara couldn’t tell through her numb shock if it was anger or sadness. “Those were the last words my mother said to me, too."

 


End file.
